Conventionally, a wheeled toy was designed to move forward in fixed directions mechanically, such as moving straightaway only, or turning instantly after bumping into a obstacle because of an additional colliding device, then still moving straightaway as usual. The moving was quite monotonous and without much interest.
Later on, there came toys such as remote-control model cars, but their consumption of power and cost for production were both too high to make them as popular products.
Another type of prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,146,708 issued on Feb. 14, 1939 to W. E. Barrett as: A toy having a spring for straightening the steering means to cause the toy normally to travel in straight line, and several push rods mounting in corresponding apertures around the periphery of a disk and that of a gear. When said push rods normally centrally located, they won't strike the bell cranks, therefore, the toy will move straightaway. When any said push rods is adujsted out of its normal central position, it will strike said bell crank during rotation of said disk and said gear to cause a tie rod to operate the steering element to make the toy turn right or left. The said push rods may be selectively pushed by an operating elements to help the player determine the course of the toy.
While another type of prior device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,421,041 issued on May 27, 1947 to A. W. Swensow as: A toy having a plurality of sets (by pair) of cams mounted on a cam shaft and said cam pairs are selected by a shifter member; each cam pair include one cam to control the shifting of clutch and the other cam to control the steering mechanism by operating through the reciprocation of a follower bar.
Still another type of prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,146,708 dated on Dec. 25, 1973 to Robert E. Roberts as:
A toy vehicle having a flexible member, such as a cord or cable, which is wound on a program drum with a multiplicity of projecting pegs arranged equispaced laterally in parallel circumferential rows, said cord being led from a storage spool around the program drum and between the pegs by an eye on a lever connecter to operate the steering mechanism of the toy vehicle.
In comparison with above prior art devices, this invention is featured of much simpler construction and easier operation with only several position-adjustable protruding devices mounting on shafts carried by two parallel tracks to push a lever to operate the steering mechanism, then to determine the course for the toy vehicle without complicated members either for drive or for steering mechanism.